In the previous part, we upgraded a simple vCenter install to version 6. Now lets tackle how it is actually done in large deployments. This is still under the assumption that there is single SSO site per vCenter server. As usual, ensure that you have good backup of the server if upgrading a production environment and also as another precaution take a snapshot just before you start the upgrade of the SSO Server.

Note: Ensure you have a change request to cover both SSO and vCenter upgrade and allow for time to roll back the upgrade and if necessary restore from backup. This process requires that once SSO has been updated you need to update the Inventory services and vCenter Server as soon as possible. With that lets get started.

Step 1: Attach the vSphere 6 ISO to the VM and run setup.exe

Step 2: As per the previous blog, let the upgrade scripts discover the various components that you have installed on the server. (I’ve seen SSO and Inventory Services usually installed on the same VM for reasons unknown. I would definitely split them out and put them on separate datastores).

Click Next.

Step 3: Accept the EULA and Click Next.

Step 4: Enter the SSO administrator password for the account “administrator@vsphere.local”. For some weird reason, although I’d started the installation with the service account for SSO, it still only asks for the password for the above account. Not sure why. I am yet to log a bug/feedback report to VMware support on this.

Click Next after the password has been input.

Step 5: Ensure that all the ports are correct and Click Next.

Step 6: Check where you want to install the PSC files to. I chose the default location but in a production environment I would choose a different location to the current installation, just to avoid any undiscovered, unrelated and undocumented bugs. The previous 5.5 SSO data will also be exported into a specific folder, ensure that this is also a separate folder to the original installation folder.

Click Next when done.

Step 7: Ensure all the details in the screen are correct, if not Click Back and make appropriate changes. If correct, click Upgrade.

Note: Don’t forget to select the check box at the bottom of the window.

Step 8: Ensure that the upgrade completes without any errors. If the upgrade stops with an error a log file will be created and placed on the Desktop.

Step 9: Once the upgrade is complete, logon to the vCenter Server to ensure the authentication modes etc are still valid. Although I personally would finish the upgrade of all the components before I logon to the vSphere environment.

Well thats it. In the next part, we will see the upgrade process for vCenter Inventory Services.